Sketching field notes: Visual context matters

It's unusual that a sketching assignment yields more drawings than I would want to include in a blog post. The extra material I'm talking about is the equivalent of what photographers would call "outtakes," those many shots that are discarded in the editing process, sometimes because they lack quality, other times because they duplicate what other photos already show.

First, I wanted run about the same number of volunteers from each party. Adding four more sketches of Democratic volunteers would have tipped the balance.

Second, my sketches of these volunteers don't include enough contextual information to clue you in about who they are. There are no campaign posters behind them, no party buttons on the shirts... all you can see is people making phone calls.

That's something to keep in mind when sketching: context. In the rush of talking to so many volunteers at the phone bank, I missed drawing some of them in a way that would have said "election time" more clearly. If only they had all been wearing Jay Inslee t-shirts or hats!